The Afternoon Collection High Resolution Satellite – KOMPSAT-3

Many of our readers have likely not heard of KOMPSAT-3. If you are one of them, we suggest you think about it for your next project requiring high resolution satellite imagery. And in particular, for those of you who work with vegetation and/or spectral analysis as KOMPSAT-3 is the only multispectral high resolution satellite in the world to collect data in the afternoon. Further, KOMPSAT-3 has the highest data quantization of any satellite on the market.

70-cm natural color sample images collected by KOMPSAT-3 on February 23, 2013 over Veracruz, Mexico. This data has been photo enhanced by Apollo Mapping. Additional samples of color 70-cm KOMPSAT-3 imagery can be found here.

If you are not familiar with KOMPSAT-3, here is a summary of the key satellite specifications:

Launch Date: May 17, 2012, 16:39 UTC

Spectral Bands:

Panchromatic

4-band multispectral (blue, green, red and NIR)

Sensor Resolution:

At nadir – 70-cm panchromatic & 2.8-m multispectral

20° off-nadir – 82-cm panchromatic & 3.28-m multispectral

30° off-nadir – 1.02-m panchromatic & 4.08-m multispectral

45° off-nadir – 2.11-m panchromatic & 8.44-m multispectral

Dynamic Range: 14-bits

Revisit Frequency: (at 40°N)

1.4 days (< 45° off-nadir)

4.1 days (< 20° off-nadir)

Mean Local Crossing Time: 13:30 local time (approximate; across lit side of Earth)

Having worked with sample images for the past several weeks, we are impressed with the crispness of KOMPSAT-3 data and its color reproduction. We feel that KOMPSAT-3 separates itself from other high-resolution satellites in two key ways:

(1) 14-bit depth which is important for spectral analysis. With 14-bit depth data, KOMPSAT-3 has a maximum digital number (or pixel value) range of 16,384 units. Compared with the maximum digital number range of 4,096 for Pléiades 1 and then 2,048 for the other high-resolution satellites in orbit now, this is a significant advantage for you remote-sensing academics and professionals out there.

(2) A 1:30 PM local collection time. All other multispectral high-resolution satellites collect imagery during the mid-morning, so an afternoon collection time can be an advantage in persistently cloudy areas like tropical islands. This is also an advantage for vegetation analysis as chlorophyll concentrations change though out the day; so coupling KOMPSAT-3 with imagery collected during the morning, can give researchers a more complete picture of plant health.

If you are interested in pricing, coverage and/or have any additional questions about KOMPSAT-3 data, please let the Apollo Mapping sales team at sales@apollomapping.com or (303) 993-3863.